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“He pounded the pavement at one point when Greg dodged his strike,” Dylan says, joining us inside.
“I did?” Wes looks to the ceiling, lost in thought. He’s not at all himself. In fact, he looks really spaced out. What’s going on in that head of his?
“You didn’t feel it?”
He shakes his head. “No.”
I gently run the pad of my finger over his knuckles, not even caring about the blood, and he flinches as his eyes close. It’s like he’s only just now realizing he’s hurt.
“Come on, let me fix you up.”
Leading him into the bathroom, I make him sit on the edge of the bath before I grab the first aid kit. I can feel his eyes follow me around the room as I move, and when I turn back to face him, they lock with mine, and the sadness reflected there shatters my heart. Though it shouldn’t.
He reaches out for me again, but changes his mind and pulls away at the last second. “I’m sorry,” he rasps, still completely out of sorts.
I go about cleaning his cut, trying to appear calm, when in reality my heart’s pounding in my chest and I feel sick. I’m worried about him. And I don’t mean the cut. Thankfully that doesn’t look deep enough for stitches, but the internal damage he’s suffering… God knows what that will take to heal.
As I apply a bandage to his hand, Wes’s gaze flits between his fist and my face, silently taking everything in. When I move to clean up the sink, he clasps my wrist and stops me, locking me in place.
“Did you know?” he whispers, raw emotion and uncertainty in his eyes.
“Know what?”
“That Greg…” He clears his throat. “That he’s my stepbrother? Is that why you kissed me that first day?”
What?! That can’t be right.
I stare down at him, completely speechless. I have no idea how to respond to that. The shock of it is too much to process. Greg and Wes? No. I would have known. Right?Did I even know Greg had any stepsiblings?
“I…wha…but…I’ve told you about him. You never made the connection?”
“You never said his name. Not once. I would have known.”
Jesus.
My chin drops to my chest and I sigh.Stepbrothers? I can’t even fathom that.What does it even mean?
We’re both silent and still for a moment. So quiet that I can hear Wes’s short shallow breaths. He’s not at all coping with everything that’s happened, and I understand it must be a shock, but this seems like more than that.
Stepping between his open legs, I run my hands through his messy hair and then down to his cheeks. He closes his eyes as his head falls back, a soft exhale leaving his mouth. His chest shakes as though he’s fighting back tears, and it makes my own eyes glassy.
Taking a deep breath, he opens his eyes as his huge palms wrap around my waist, and when his gaze locks on mine, I see every emotion clear as day. He’s breaking. The revelation that I dated his stepbrother is killing him.But why?
“I’m so sorry, Lucy,” he whispers in a gravelly voice. “I didn’t know. We don’t talk.Ever. I’m sorry.”
He drops to his knees in front of me, hugging my legs tightly, and it breaks me more than I already was. Tears silently fall as I pull free of his grasp and join him on the floor.
“It’s okay, Wes. It’s okay.”
I curl myself into his body and welcome the feelings I get when he wraps his arms around me, gently rocking us from side to side.
We stay like that until Wes clears his throat and moves back, shaking himself off. “We better get back out there,” he rasps. “I’m sure Katie’s wondering where you are.”
Before letting me respond, he jumps up and pulls me to my feet, rubbing his eyes a few times. I quickly wipe away my own tears and smooth out my clothes, a little shocked at this change in pace.
“Come on,” he says, with a facade now in place, before linking our fingers to lead me back into the kitchen where the group is hovering, looking a little unsure. But when my phone rings on the counter the second we enter the room, it snaps them out of their weird mood.
“Whoever it is has called a few times,” Dylan says, picking up my phone. “I was going to answer it, but I wasn’t sure if you’d want me to.” He shows me the screen, and I see it’s an unknown number.
